On December 27 during a “Meet the Press Roundtable,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made the following comments when discussing the need for energy independence.

"It is the battle on the battlefield, but it’s also the battle on the economic field. And what’s missing here is a discussion, believe it or not, of the environment. And it has nothing to do with global warming down the road, it is today.

"We are transferring our wealth to countries around the world who don’t agree with us and, in many cases, are funding the very terrorists that we’re sending our young men and women out to fight. And sometimes they don’t come back or they don’t come back alive.

"We can’t keep doing this. We’ve got to get, somehow or other, energy independence. And so regardless of whether you’re a greenie or not, the bottom line is we cannot keep funding our enemies."